Plaited unit



Dec.v31l, 1940- E. L. BENEDlc-r PLAITED UNIT Filed June l5, 1958 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Patented Dec. 3l, 194i) UNIE STATES einenPLAITED UNET tion of New York Application June 15 1938, Seria-l No.Eli-2,841

7' Claims.

This invention relates to units comprising attached sheets of plaitedilexible material for dec orative and other purposes in which at leastone backing sheet has itsplaits of less depth than the foundation tolimit the lateral expansibility of the foundation and has for its objectto lessen the tendency of this backing or limiting sheet to be rupturedby tension.

Another object is to provide an attractive look.- ing unit which isresilient enough to be capable of automatic opening to a substantialextent.

Another object is to attach the backing which is generally lighter inweight than the front or foundation sheet, in such manner that thefoundation sheet may be locally ilexed in parts on application oflateral tension of the backing whereby any tendency for the backing tobecome torn may be reduced.

A further object is to provide means for satisfactorily overlapping suchdecorative units along either its longitudinal or lateral edge portions.

Fig. l illustrates one embodiment of this invention.

Fig. 2 shows the device of Fig. l when tension had been applied to thebacking resulting in a lateral flexure of slat portions of thefoundation.

Fig. 3 shows the device ci Fig. l in partially expanded or openposition.

Fig. 4 shows how the units may be overlapped along their longitudinaledges or how the opposite edges of the saine sheet may be constructedfor overlapping.

Fig. 5 is a front view on a reduced scale of units transversely andlongitudinally overlapped.

6 is a rear view showing one way in which the backing of the front unitmay be prepared for such transverse overlapping.

Fig. 7 shows another way in which the backing 4U may be prepared fortransverse overlapping.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail showing how the foundation sheet is moresharply creased than the backing.

Fig. 9 is a perspective showing an embodiment of this inventioncomprising a splicing sheet.

Fig. 10 is a transverse section through the de- Vice of Fig, 9.

Fig. 1l is a view of the devices of Figs. 9 and l0 partially collapsed.

The foundation Il! is preferably of paper which is accordion plaitedlongitudinally. A backing sheet of ilexible plaited material is securedto the foundation l0 not only at the folds on one side but also alongthe rear surface of the foundation for a substantial area I2 on at leastone side of some of the foies. In the form illustrated the backing hasbeen attached on both sides for a substantial distance away from eachfold. Preferably a flexible adhesive is used in securing the backing tothe foundation in order that the foun- 5 dation which is generally ofheavier stock than the backing may possess enough inherent resiliency atthe folds i3 and Hl so that it may have a substantial inherent tendencyto open at least about as much as shown in Fig. 3 though preferl0 ablyenough resiliency to open still more and to an amount almost orsubstantially that shown in Fig. 1.

It will be seen the backing l l is likewise plaited longitudinallythough the plaits in the backing 15 are oi less depth than those of thefoundation.

In order to reduce the danger of the lighter weight backing beingaccidentally torn under lateral tension applied to it, Fig. 2 shows howthe backing Ii when drawn more tightly will stress 29 the slat portionsof the foundation iii and cause them to be curved as illustrated. Thislocal flexure of the slat portions of the foundation gives the backingsubstantial yield and resiliency unr der a tensional stress and thustends to safeguard La it against tearing. The stiffness or degree ofresiliency depends not only upon the relative character of thefoundation and backing but also to a substantial extent upon the widthsof the areas I2 across which the backing is adhered to the founclation.

If the area l2 is wider than that illustrated in Fig. 1 then it will beseen the slat portions of the foundation must be iiexed to a greaterextent than is shown in Fig. 2 and the unit is thus more yieldable orresilient laterally. In applying lateral tension to the backing eachslat portion of the foundation Il) tends to be bowed and the longer thelever arm, measured by the width of the attached area l2, the morereadily does the foundation become so bowed. On the other hand, thenarrower the area l2, the shorter is the lever arm for applying stressto transversely bow or flex the slat portions of the foundation and thestiffer and less resilient is the total unit under lateral tension.

Another reason for making the area I2 of substantial extent is that whenthe backing is fully expanded, the backing when viewed from the rearstill possesses the plaited appearance as is the case in Fig. l. It isonly when the backing l l has been stressed under tension enough tobring all areas I2 into substantial alignment that the 55 backing loosesits plaited appearance when viewed from the rear.

In Fig. 4 the backing is shown as extending across all but the last pairof slats in the foundation along each edge portion leaving an unbridgedpair of slats I5 and I6 which may be nested to provide a convenientmeans for fastening the longitudinally overlapped edge portions of aunit or units. The adjacent edge portions shown in Fig. 4 may be theopposite edges of a single unit adapted for overlapping for example whenthe unit is placed around a column to be decorated, or these edgeportions may be on different units as may be desired in case thedecorative units are to be arranged along a wall to give greater widthfor the total area to be decorated than can be conveniently covered by asingle unit. The nested unbridged V-shaped portions in the foundation inFig. 4 may be permanently or temporarily secured by some well known formof mechanical fastening means or by the use of adhesive. It makes nodifference which edge portion shown in Fig. 4 is placed in front of orbehind the other. In other words, the backing I Ia and the foundationIIJa may be that of a separate unit from the backing II and foundationIIJ or they may be the opposite longitudinal edges of the same unit.

In Fig. 5 is exemplified the transverse and longitudinal overlapping ofthese decorative units I0 and IIIe as viewed from the front, thetransversely overlapped portion 20 being of any desired amount providedthe backing of the front unit Id must, however, be prepared in somemanner such as that shown by Figs. 6 and '7 to allow the foundation ofthe front unit Id to be nested with the foundation of the lower or rearunit Ille. Otherwise it will be understood from Figs. 1 and 3 forexample that the backing when fully or partially extended would preventa substantial nesting. The longitudinally overlapped portion 20a is ofthe type shown in Fig. 9, the splicing sheet 29a being shown in dottedlines as being short enough not to need slitting as in Figs. 6 or 7. Thelongitudinal edge 25a. of one of the units is shown in full lines.

Fig. 6 illustrates one way in which the backing llc of a unit may betreated in order to enable the front foundation IIIc to be nested intransversely overlapped relation. with the foundation of a rear unit.For this purpose the backing I Ic should be provided with longitudinalcentral slit portions I'I between each of the adhesively secured foldsI2c, the slit II being at least or slightly longer than the desiredoverlap. In addition each portion of the backing should be laterallyslit as shown at I8 for the width of the backing between adjacentadhesively secured portions I2C, thus forming, as it were, a pair ofswinging doors in back of each pair of foundation slats. These swingingdoors I9 will then be capable of being brought substantially contiguousthe foundation Illc as shown at the left part of Fig. 6, therebyenabling another unit which extends above the one illustrated to benested by bringing its foundation folds into the V-shaped recesses abovethe uncut portions of the backing IIc.

In Fig. '7 is illustrated another construction for the backing to permitthe same transverse overlap or nesting and in this case the backingportions IIf are slit as shown at 2I for a substantially longer distancethan the actual overlapped portions of the two units in order that thesides 22 of the slit may be held contiguous the foundation slats IIlfthroughout at least the overlapped portion.

Fig. 8 shows how the foundation ID is creased at its fold I4 moresharply than is the backing II which is more rounded as shown by thenumeral 23. The foundation is preferably pressure-creased in order togive it the desired resiliency while the backing is not so creased.

With some types of paper it may be desirable to have the adhesive moreor less exible depending on the resilience desired for the fold, itbeing preferable for the adhesive to be suiciently flexible so that theresilience of the foundation fold is not destroyed and the unit may becapable of automatically opening to substantially the extent shown byFig. l.

With some types of paper used for the foundation it may be desirable toscore or attenuate the fold I4 by rendering it thinner and weaker thanthe rest of the foundation in order not to make the fold too stiff. Suchscoring or thinning may be performed on what are known in the art asscoring rolls.

The creasing of the foundation may be done by hand or by the use of somemechanical means for pressure creasing it.

The foundation IEIl may be of any suitable material possessing thedesired combination of body stiffness and resilience in the folds. Forexample, a fibrous or beaten pulp paper of weights from 30 pounds to 120pounds per 3000 square feet have been used and for the backing suchpaper from 2O to 60 lbs. has been found desirable, the backingpreferably being lighter in weight and therefore having less body thandoes the foundation. Instead of paper alone the foundation may include apaper coated with metal foil or even a heavy metal foil alone, thoughthis is generally too expensive. The backing for each unit may also beof any type of flexible sheet material and may include a foil coatedpaper or even metal foil alone, especially aluminum foil as that hasbeen found attractive in appearance.

The backing and foundation may be of any desired color or provided witha. coating of any desired color and they may be of the same orcontrasting colors.

While a feature of this invention resides in having the backing soconstructed as to provide the adhesive portions I2 of substantial widthwhen the backing is fully expanded as shown in Fig. l without too muchtension applied, in order to give the backing the plaited appearance ifthe backing is exposed, the more usual practice is to have thefoundation exposed and the backing not visible.

The decorative units of this invention may be made of any desired widthand in convenient lengths or in lengths so long that the units whenlaterally compressed for shipment must be folded and out off to whateverlengths are desired. The units of this invention have feen foundattractive in the decoration of halls, nightclubs and the like, becausethey should be available at a cheaper price than is bunting and at thesame time give a pleasing and attractive appearance. These units may befolded around columns or pillars or may be arranged along walls andceilings with f the plaits extending in any direction. The backing I Ilimits the extent to which the foundation may be laterally expanded andtherefore insures the unit at all times having the plaited appearanceeven when stressed under tension as shown in Fig. 2 inasmuch as thecurvature'or bowing to the slat portions of the foundation is notparticularly noticeable when viewed in plan, although of course whenviewed from an end of the unit the local flexing of these slat portionsis quite noticeable.

Other types of paper than some of the craft papers described may besuitable for both the foundation and backing. The lateral resiliencywhich the unit possesses enables the backing to be made of lighterweight, lower grade and cheaper material than is the case where nolateral resiliency is provided in the unit. With the fibrous or beatenpulp type papers wetting only along the folds of the foundation or thefolds of the foundation and backing has been found to make the paperstiller as though starched and this is sometimes desirable especiallywhere the foundation has been scored or thinned to an extent making itotherwise too flexible. A con* venient and desirable type of adhesivehas been found to be a casein or latex type adhesive containing enoughrubber to make the adhesive flexible, yet after setting the adhesivebecomes substantially water insoluble. Either or both the foundation andbacking may be waterproofed and flameproofed or reproofed in ways wellknown in the industry. The foundation, especially the front surface7 mayif desired be treated with a suitable resinous coating to render thematerial greaseproof and not in danger of becoming soiled should it behandled.

In the preferred form of this invention the backing is so arranged thatthe foundation sheet as shown in Fig. 1 has its slat portions makingangles of approximately 45 with the vertical or horizontal, in otherWords making angles of approximately 90 between slat portions. The unitwhen made about inches wide when expanded as shown in Fig. 1 has beenfound a convenient and desirable width for handling and shipping. Theability for the material to be laterally compressed for shipment is adesirable feature since the compressed unit takes up so little space.

The described manner of making the foundation slat portions bowed togive the unit lateral yield or resiliency is desirable not only forunits of the type illustrated in Fig. 1 but also in such units havinganother backing sheet similarly secured along the front folds asdescribed and illustrated in my application Serial Number 179,134 filedDecember 1i), 1937, for Machine and process 4for plaiting, Patent2,196,006, dated April 2, 1949.

This described construction whether having one or two sheets of backingis of use not only for decorative purposes but desirable to provide asatisfactory type of packing for fragile articles like lamp bulbs. Whenbacking is provided on each side of the foundation and the backing'sheetsA are of metal foil, this application is applicable to thermalinsulating units. While the adhesively secured portions I2 have beenshown in the drawing as existing on each side of the contiguousfoundation folds, it will be understood that these adhesively securedareas need not necessarily exist at each of the substantially contiguousfoundation folds nor need they exist on both sides of such a fold sincea desirable though less lateral resiliency may be obtained by havingtheA adhesive areas I2 on only one side of some of the folds. Of coursethe width of the adhesive strip I2 on one slat of the foundation shouldbe a minor portion of the slat width to leave plenty of slat width freeto be bowed or flexed. The unit may be overlapped with other units bothlongitudinally according to Fig. 4 and transversely according to Figs. 6or 7, as shown in Fig. 5.

The material of this invention may be used as curtains with the foldseither horizontal like Venetian blinds or vertical and in either casemay be provided with suitable cords for opening and closing thecurtains. When so used the unit may be of the type illustrated or may beprovided with an expansion limiting sheet on each side of the foundationand secured to the folds thereof or a cord or cords may be used in placeof one or both of the backing or expansion limiting sheets. Such a cordmay be secured to the foundation outside thereof or may be knotted andpassed through perforations in the Slat-like portions of the foundation,which should of course be of heavy material.

The embodiment illustrated in Fig. 9 includes a unit having a foundationIlly with a flexible H backing Iig secured to the foundation alongattached portions I2g. Another similar unit having a foundation Illh andbacking Hh, is longitudinally secured to the rst unit by having edgeportions 25 of the nrst unit and 26 of the second unit overlapped andadhesively secured together. As shown in Fig. 10 the backing IIhterminates in a portion 27 secured to the backing 10h between a lateraledge of the foundation and the rst fold 43h therefrom. The backing I Igof the first unit is terminated in an adhesively secured portion 28.Merely overlapping the foundation portions 25 and 26 and securing themtogether may suffice to satisfactorily unite the two units where nolateral stress is applied to the backing portions of each unit and theirfoundations, but where such a stress might be present it has been founddesirable to provide a splicing strip 29 also of flexible sheet materialsubstantially similar to that of the backing, which is secured at 30 tothe backing Iih and at 3| to the backing IIy. This splicing strip may ormay not extend all the way to the top or bottom edge of the foundationor backing or it may terminate short of such top or bottom edge. Anadvantage of using such a splicing strip is that the overlapped portionsof the foundation are made to lock like the rest of the foundation andthe overlapping becomes substantially inconspicuous. Of course thesplicing strip 29 should be folded in the same manner that the backingsheets are folded because the splicing strip in effect makes one largerand substantially continuous backing where two separate portions hadpreviously existed.

It will be noted the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 9 to 11 inclusivehave the plaits of the backing deeper andmore nearly equal to the plaitsof the foundation with the result that the foundation in Jthisembodiment may be opened wider than the foundation illustrated in Figs.1 to 4 inn clusive.

From the drawings it will be seen that the self expanded material ofFig. 3 is more than half the width of the fully expanded material ofFig. 1.

I claim:

1. The combination with a plaited flexible sheet, of another plaitedflexible sheet secured to one side. of the rst sheet with folds of saidsheets substantially contiguous one another, the folds of the rst sheetbeing laterally spaced apart a less distance than in the second sheet.whereby the first sheet may limit lateral expansibility of the secondsheet, the improvement which comprises increasing the resiliency of thefirst sheet when substantially fully expanded laterally by having thesheets adhesively secured along each' side of a fold for a distance awayfrom the fold sufficient to flex portions of the second sheet betweenfolds from a substantially at surface into a somewhat curved surfacewhen viewed on a lateral cross-section and by the application of tensionto the first sheet.

2. The combination with a plaited flexible sheet, of another plaitedflexible sheet secured to one side of the first sheet with folds of saidsheets substantially contiguous one another, the folds of the firstsheet being laterally spaced apart a less distance than in the secondsheet, whereby the first sheet may limit lateral expansibility of the ysecond sheet, the improvement which comprises increasing the resiliencyof the first sheet when substantially fully expanded laterally by havingthe sheets adhesively secured along at least one side of several foldsfor a distance away from the folds sunicient to flex portions of thesecond sheet between folds from a substantially flat surface into asomewhat curved surface when viewed on` a lateral cross section and byapplication of tension to the first sheet, said second sheet beingheavier and stiffer than the first sheet.

3. The combination with a plaited flexible sheet, of another plaitedflexible sheet secured to one side of the first sheet with folds of saidsheets substantially contiguous one another, the folds of the firstsheet being laterally spaced apart a less distance than in the secondsheet, whereby the first sheet may limit lateral expansibility of thesecond sheet, the improvement which cornprises increasing the resiliencyof the rst sheet when substantially fully expanded laterally by havingthe sheets adhesively secured, said sheets being capable of beingcompressed laterally and the sheets with the adhesive securing thempossessing enough resiliency along the folds such that when laterallycompressed they will upon removal of the holding force expand laterallyor open automatically for substantially the full width of the firstsheet when the folds are arranged substantially vertically.

4. The combination with a plaited flexible sheet, of another plaitedflexible sheet secured to one side of the rst sheet with folds of saidsheets substantially contiguous one another, the folds of the rst sheetbeing laterally spaced apart a less distance than in the second sheet,whereby the rst sheet may limit lateral expansibility of the secondsheet, the improvement which comprises increasing the resiliency of thefirst sheet when substantially fully expanded laterally by' having thesheets adhesively secured along at least one side of several folds for adistance away from the folds sufficient to flex portions of the secondsheet between folds from a substantially flat surface into a somewhatcurved surface when viewed on a lateral cross section and by applicationof tension to the rst sheet, the folds of the second sheet being scoredand the second sheet adjacent its folds which are contiguous the firstsheet being compressed to a less depth than is the rest of the sheet.

5. A unit comprising a flexible plaited foundation having a flexibleplaited backing with folds of less depth than those of the foundation,at least some of the backing folds secured along some of the foundationfolds, the backing limiting the lateral expansibility of the foundation,and another similarly plaited unit of foundation and backing overlappinga transverse end portion 0f the first unit, the backing of the secondunit being longitudinally slit, for a least the length of the overlap,adjacent the backing folds intermediate those contiguous the foundationfolds of the second unit and the backing in the second unit being alsolaterally slit on each side of each of the longitudinal slits to enablethe foundation folds of the second unit to nest into the foundationfolds of the first unit.

6. The combination with a plaited flexible sheet, of another plaitedflexible sheet secured to one side of the rst sheet with folds of saidsheets substantially contiguous one another, the folds of the rst sheetbeing laterally spaced apart a less distance than in the second sheet,whereby the. first sheet may limit the lateral expansibility of thesecond sheet, the improvement which com- Y prises increasing theresiliency of the first sheet when substantially fully expandedlaterally by having the sheets -adhesively secured along at least oneside of a fold for a distance away from the fold sufficient to flexportions of the second sheet between folds from a substantially flatsurface into a somewhat curved surface when viewed on a lateralcross-section 4and by the application of tension to the first sheet.

'7. A unit including an accordian plaited flexible foundation having aplaited flexible backing whose plaits are of less depth than those ofthe foundation secured along at least some of the folds of thefoundation and backing, said backing being also secured to thefoundation along a substantial area near the lateral edges thereof, asecond unit substantially similar to the first unit having alongitudinal edge portion secured to a longitudinal edge portion of thefirst unit for a substantial area between a lateral edge of eachfoundation and the first fold thereof from that edge, and a splicingsheet of plaited flexible material spanning the secured portions of thefoundation and secured to the rear fa'ce of the backing of each unit,said splicing sheet being of a length such that the secured togetherportions of the foundations when open or closed have the same generaluniform plaited appearance.

EDWARD L. BENEDICT.

